How to Make a Diaper Motorcycle Baby Shower Show Stopper

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In the past, I have made diaper cakes, where you roll up each individual diaper using a rubberband, put them into a circle shape, decorate it with cute baby things, and present it to a mother-to-be with oohs and ahhs from everyone. A time consuming task, I reserved making that gift for only the most special people in my life who were going to have a new baby.

I had pinned a motorcycle diaper cake to one of my boards, and when the time came to actually make the gift, I was unfortunately disappointed when the link I pinned took me to just a photo, and I was unable to see how to make the gift easily.

A quick Google search as I walked around Target took me to an exceptional tutorial on a blog here: Sweet Aprils, the Blog.
I give a huge thumbs up to the author of that blog, who literally saved my shopping trip and I was able to complete the easier, sweeter, cooler diaper motorcycle that had a bigger "WOW" factor than a regular diaper cake, in my opinion of course.

I dedicate this instructable, to my sister-in-love, who asked me to post the "How To" make this cool baby shower gift that only takes about an hour.

Step 1: Materials

You will need the following items, and have the *Option* to purchase extras for great gift giving:

For the tires - Steps 2 & 3

A minimum of thirty-four (34), Size 1 diapers

Two (2) rubber bands

An 8-inch cake pan

1-1/2" to 2" wide coordinating ribbon

At least two sewing pins

Scissors

To connect the wheels and make handle bars - Steps 4 & 5

Two (2) individual receiving blankets, at least 27" square

At least two (more) sewing pins

Something to "tie" the blanket together: Suggestions are another rubber band (covered by ribbon), a chain link toy, OR a cute ponytail holder, (which is what I used.)

One Bib - Purchase a pack of at least two for the whole project.

Make a headlight - Step 6

One bottle

*Optional*: I used one burp cloth to wrap around the bottle, but it is not needed.

Stiffen the handlebars - Step 7

An empty toilet paper roll tube

Booties or a pair of socks

Tissue paper or a paper towel

Make a seat - Step 8

One bib

Place a Rider - Step 9

A small (6" tall or so) stuffed animal

Notes:

My photo shows a box of 108 diapers. This is not needed, unless you are like me and plan on giving the diapers as part of the present.

Make sure you get enough diapers! Some packages only have 30 when you need at least 34 for a good looking end result.

The *optional* items to purchase for the gift can include a burp cloth or a washcloth. I purchased a package of burp cloths and incorporated them into the motorcycle cake throughout the process.

Step 2: Create the Diaper Tires

Separate the thirty-four (34) diapers into two groups of seventeen (17).

Taking a few diapers at a time, begin by placing the fold on what will be known as the outside of the tire, separating the diapers by about 3/4 of an inch or so.

Continue to add more diapers, about three at a time or so, until the tops of the diapers begin to touch the bottom fold in the cake pan.

After your minimum of 17-diapers have been used, begin to tug at the first diapers placed, and move them closer to the center of the pan.
If you only had a 9-inch diameter cake pan, then I would expect that more diapers would be needed.

Tug and adjust the other diapers to create the spiral effect inside the cake pan as well as spacing the diapers evenly on the outside.

When you're happy with the diaper spacing, wrap the rubber band around the outside of the diapers and remove the "tire" from the cake pan.

Make a second tire with the other 17 diapers.

Step 3: Add Ribbon

Using the diaper tire itself, measure the ribbon around the outside diameter of the diapers, overlapping the ends by at least two inches.

After cutting the ribbon, fold the end of the outside piece inside between the two layers of ribbon, for a neat and clean look.

Using one of the sewing pins, pin all three layers of ribbon to the diaper.

The ribbon should be snug around the diapers, but not squeezing the circle. The tires should stand up as a wheel would on any motorcycle.

Step 4: Connect the Wheels

Have two of your sewing pins handy, take one of the two receiving blankets needed for this project and fold it in half.

After it is folded in half, fold the "open" edge of the blanket into the area that is going to be rolled up, so that the roll will have a smooth look to it.

Begin rolling the blanket from one side, so that the end result is about one-and-a-half (1-1/2) to two-inches (2") wide.

Slip one of the ends of the rolled blanket through the center of one of the diaper tires.

Pull the blanket through the center of the diaper tire until it appears even on both sides.

Align the second diaper tire with the first, and slip one of the loose ends of the blanket through the center of the second tire.

Pull the loose end through the opposite side of the tire, and repeat the above procedure with the remaining loose end of the blanket.

Pull on both loose ends of the blanket to make it snug.

Folding the loose end into itself and then into the opposite roll, pin the end to the rolled blanket, as close as you can get it to inside the diaper.

I didn't want the pin to show, so I placed it on the inside of the fold of the ends of the blanket.
Repeat the pinning for both sides.

Step 5: Add Handlebars

As with the first receiving blanket, roll up the second one as well to about one and one-half (1-1/2") to two-inches (2") in width.

Pull the roll through the diaper tire that does not have the blanket ends pinned in it.

Place a bib over the top-front of the diaper wheel.

I folded the ends of the bib over each other and pushed them slightly in between the two diaper wheels to keep the bib straight.

Using my cute hair tie (you may use a rubber band or those child's links if that is what you have), even up the ends of the blanket and place the tie over the two loose ends of the handle bars.

There is no need to tighten yet; that's in the next step.

Step 6: Bottle Head Light

Because I wanted to incorporate the burp cloths into the motorcycle, I chose to wrap the bottle with a burp cloth.
However, I believe this is optional, and does not necessarily have to be utilized.

I folded the burp cloth so that the ends would be rolled on the inside around the bottle.

You place the bottle, with the cap side facing the front of the bike, in between the rolled blanket handle bars.

It was then that I tightened the tie around the bottle and the two rolled blanket handle bars.

Step 7: Stiffen the Handle Bars

Taking the empty toilet roll tube, cut it in half.

Take one half of the tube and slip it down each side of the rolled blanket handle bar end to stiffen the handle bar.

As the socks or booties will be covering the ends, it's ok if the toilet paper rolls stick out a little.

Taking torn tissue paper or a piece of paper towel, stuff the inside of the booties or socks.

Hang one bootie at the end of each handle bar.

Step 8: Make a Seat

In the materials step of these instructions, I stated to purchase two bibs.
The second bib is for the "seat" for your stuffed rider.

I placed the bib over the top of the back diaper tire, folded the loose ends of the bib over each other, and tucked them in between the two diaper tires.

If you did not purchase any other gift items except the bibs & receiving blankets, then here's a good time to move onto Step 9.

However, as I had leftover burp cloths and an extra bib from my package, I wanted to give them as part of the gift.

I stacked the remaining burp cloths on top of each other and placed the bib at one end of the stack. I then proceeded to fold the loose ends of the burp cloths toward the center to have neat edges.

After folding the combination of the burp cloths and bibs into a "seat," I placed that little package on top of the area where the two diaper tires meet.

Step 9: Place the Rider

In retrospect, I should have purchased an animal that matched the theme of the bibs and burp cloths. In this case, that would have been a small stuffed dinosaur.
But, I found this cute monkey with long arms and legs and used it.

In order to make the monkey's hands stay in place, I used a couple pieces of double sided tape and placed them on the bottom of each hand of the monkey.

I positioned the little guy on top of his new ride and took him outside to take pictures.

Step 10: Completing the Gift

I gave the recipient a crocheted blanket along with the extra diapers, extra bottles, and the diaper motorcycle gift.

The crocheted blanket is from a pattern called Lacy V-Stitch Blanket and the link takes you to my completed page on Ravelry, where I give a review of the yarn and the pattern.

I used the blanket to wrap up additional diapers and the bottles, and to place the diaper motorcycle on top of when presenting the gift.

I used the left over ribbon to tie the blanket up with a bow, and took many photos so I could have a memory of what I gave to the new mom.

I hope this helps you make your show stopping diaper motorcycle. I personally got so many compliments that I was glad I took photos along the way to create this instructable for myself too!

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17 Discussions

I am so excited to share my experience making this motorcycle for my Sons' 1st baby. (shower centerpiece) with help from my very creative neighbor we added hubcaps on back tire (pill bottle lids wrapped in foil) and used bonsai wire in the handlebars so we could manipulate them, added a passport (baby shower theme is adventure) and we are ready to ride into lifes' biggest adventure! Thanks so much for posting your instructions. Truly, took longer to buy all the 'goodies' than it did to assemble - and what fun assembly it was! Thank for a memory making project! Oh. I also used safety pins instead of straight pins so new mom or dad won't get poked when taking apart, if they ever do. LOL Cindy D VRRRRRRRRRRRRROM

I like your instructions better, At least you are able to download the instructions. I am going to start early and work on it, as my daughter in law is 2 months pregnant. I want to make it unisex colors so it will be either or. I can't wait to get started, thank you so much.

I will be "attempting" to make this for my God Daughter's shower on Saturday and I was wondering if you could tell me how much time I should allow to make this? I just wanted to make sure I give myself enough time. Thank you. This is the 1st time ever using this site, as I followed your link from Pintrest. I am amazed at how detailed your instructions are! I cannot wait to make this!

I hope you made it! The whole thing probably took me about an hour and I took pictures along the way. The cake pan is the real time saver! Please post a photo if you made one and thanks for commenting!